If there were ever two cults that were made for one another they are the Scientologists and the Ayn Rand followers. Both cults provide a framework and justification for sociopathic behavior in the form of poorly written works of fiction.

buckler:"If you reward non-production, you're going to get non-production. Scientologists realize that. They tend to be independent thinkers."

Except for the part where your every action is monitored and controlled by superiors, you're expected to follow the "teachings" of L. Ron Hubbard down to the last letter, and you're punished with slave labor if you dare to show an independent thought of question the Scientology stance on anything. Other than that, you can think as independently as you like.

Slave labor wasn't used to punish. That was the norm. Working 16 to 20 hours a day was typical. If you complained you would get punished by getting shiattier jobs and crappier food. Another punishment was to transfer one person of a married couple to another location.

My second ex was sucked into Co$ when she was a gullible teenager with major family issues. When she tried to escape they locked her up. Eventually got out, but she still isn't right in the head (thus the "ex" part).

Rich Cream:theorellior: St_Francis_P: then paralyzed them and froze them in a mixture of alcohol and glycol to capture their souls.

I had no idea the soul was soluble in a mixture of alcohol and glycol.

Quite the opposite. Frozen within, being insoluble prevents escape.

/like I would know

If I remember correctly, the astral-projection soul-hopping deal was supposed to be a thoroughly understood science in the star empire, and the paralysis mixture would both keep you from killing yourself (and hopping into a new body and warning folks) or astrally projecting (to do something similar) and the result was this body-horror kidnapping followed by complicated execution. Once the souls were loose but disoriented by the nuclear blasts Xenu and co. used magic soul-catching technology to grab the confused spirits and confuse them more with THE EVILS OF PSYCHOLOGY.

It should come as no surprise at this point that L. Ron Hubbard had bad experiences with psychiatry, specifically they tried but failed to help him and in his confused state he decided, "YOU'RE the crazy ones! Not me!!"

It's actually an interesting mythos, if it wasn't being taken seriously and used for acts of evil.

Then again I survived reading the original Battlefield: Earth, so perhaps my tolerance for long-winded bullshiat is just higher than everyone else'.

OgreMagi:buckler: "If you reward non-production, you're going to get non-production. Scientologists realize that. They tend to be independent thinkers."

Except for the part where your every action is monitored and controlled by superiors, you're expected to follow the "teachings" of L. Ron Hubbard down to the last letter, and you're punished with slave labor if you dare to show an independent thought of question the Scientology stance on anything. Other than that, you can think as independently as you like.

Slave labor wasn't used to punish. That was the norm. Working 16 to 20 hours a day was typical. If you complained you would get punished by getting shiattier jobs and crappier food. Another punishment was to transfer one person of a married couple to another location.

My second ex was sucked into Co$ when she was a gullible teenager with major family issues. When she tried to escape they locked her up. Eventually got out, but she still isn't right in the head (thus the "ex" part).

Yeah, of course I was talking about RPF, the "Rehabilitation Project Force", in which punishees were forced into the shiattiest conditions, made to eat scraps left over from the others out of a slop bucket, and other humiliating, horrible things. I've read many, many accounts of Scienos, and they talk about things like being forced to run around and around a pole in the hot desrt for hours while wearing a boilersuit, cleaning out septic tanks with their bare hands and such. Then there was the "RPF's RPF", for those who didn't cut it in the regular punishment routine, which amounted in some cases to doing even worse jobs, sometimes for days without sleep, while essentially in solitary confinement. THEN they were forced to confess their "crimes" and make restitution to the Church before being allowed to climb back into their good graces.

Scientology is just a cult that bothered to buy a back story. People like that are extremely dangerous. Stay away from Scientology, and speed it's fall.

I would rather see America (or the world, for that matter) become uniformly Mormon (yes, really) than Scientologist. Hell, I think even Islam is less undesirable, and I do not appreciate the absolute self justification of Islam. But a cult is worse. And a rich, legally active cult with lots of ambition is more than a blight, it is a pox. It brings great sorrow.

"When goodness grows weak, when evil increases, I make myself a body. In every age I come back to deliver the holy, to destroy the sin of the sinner, to establish righteousness. He who knows the nature of my task and my holy birth is not reborn when he leaves this body: he comes to me. Flying from fear, from lust and anger, he hides in me his refuge, his safety: burnt clean in the blaze of my being, in me many find home." - Bhagavad Gita

"If you reward non-production, you're going to get non-production. Scientologists realize that. They tend to be independent thinkers."

Except for the part where your every action is monitored and controlled by superiors, you're expected to follow the "teachings" of L. Ron Hubbard down to the last letter, and you're punished with slave labor if you dare to show an independent thought of question the Scientology stance on anything. Other than that, you can think as independently as you like.

Many of those who are disillusioned by government and politics, confused, alienated, become Ron Paul supporters. Those who are in this state of mind are the preferred prey of cults, religion, and certain commercial marketing strategies. Of course Scientology is there, being all three.

I smell a money-making opportunity here. Any way we could whip up some gold-clad "dianos" coins with a volcano on the obverse and LRH's bust on the reverse and sell them as a sure-fire investment vehicle for when civilization collapses?

"The bottom line is that the guys who are Ron Paul supporters are free-thinkers," said Doerges. "They're more literate. They're able to actually look at data, and make decisions about it. That's sort of the keynote of Scientology."